Interesting Blog Posts

As corn pests wise up to our feeble attempts to genetically engineer pest resistance into corn seeds, farmers are having to pump even more pesticides onto their crops[11]. Or, you know, they could do some old-fashioned and time-tested crop rotation and limit the resistance in the first place, but that wouldn’t be better living through chemistry.

Media, Schmedia

The drug-resistant bacteria situation on America’s farms and the food they produce is only getting worse[14].

Everything Else

Drug companies are rushing to perfect a drug[15] that mimics a rare LDL-lowering genetic mutation. People with the mutation have a drastically lower risk of heart disease, but I’m not sure that means the drug will have the same effect. Will this turn out like all the others?

Citing the increasing numbers of chickens being given up, animal shelter workers are calling the end of the urban chicken trend. “It’s the stupid foodies” getting in over their heads, they say. But, according to NPR[16], the actual problem is the hatcheries, who often mistakenly sell male chicks as females. When the males come of age and become loud-beaked roosters, most urban farmers must dump them or run afowl of the law.

[16] according to NPR: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/07/10/200699728/hipsters-off-the-hook-the-truth-behind-abandoned-backyard-chickens?sc=tw&cc=share&utm_content=buffer55556&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer

[17] Americans are still failing to lose weight: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-americans-exercise-not-losing-weight-20130709,0,1516487.story